Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Sign Points to Entrepreneurship

Got a pretty big wake-up call the last couple of days at my main job, where I work for an employer. The management has seemed nervous ever since we got taken over by a large corporation. I came in late on the weekend, due to a traffic jam, which made my bosses nervous that I wouldn't get a special project done. I worked fast (my hands were shaking from nervousness) and I got the job done early. I actually had plenty of time for a modification, to make the item look better.

The next day my boss came down hard on me, for coming in late and making the other bosses anxious. I apologized for being late, but pointed out that the work I did was fine, on-time, and there were no complaints about the quality of it. Having that talk with her was punishment enough. I guess she felt differently, because I found out through the grapevine that she's ready to put a disciplinary letter on my permanent file. This is an interesting change; 6 years ago, when I was making a bad habit of arriving late, all it took was a small mention from my boss, and I cleaned up my act. I've been striving ever since to be on time for everything, even social events. Now she wants to put a letter, despite that I've been arriving on-time for 6 years, despite the project being done by deadline.

When you're an entrepreneur, you set the schedule. It's important to be on-time, but you set the start time that works for you. When you work for an employer, you are a punching bag for their insecurities.